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Wednesday, December 3, 2008

INTERESTING SOLUTION.....


Darrin, the owner of Winnie, is an administrator at a school near Rochester, New York.  On Tuesday he came up with an idea that was so innovative!!!  While attending a meeting at one of the Elementary Schools, two teachers became ill and had to go home (probably the same bug I am still dealing with)....the Principal could not get subs and took one of the classes assigning Darrin to the other.  The kids were 4th and 5th graders and he had to cover language arts, math, science etc... What was he to do?  As a regular reader of my Journal, he thought of a perfect solution.  He got the laptop cart so each student would have a PC and had them go to skoogfarm.blogspot.com.  There was an intro on me and then he started asking the kids about some of the things I might do at the farm.  The kids broke into small groups to take a look at the blog and were asked to write a story about some part of it.  Some wrote about Winnie's move from her perspective, Justine's perspective and from my perspective.  Two girls were more interested in the Skoog Farm Workshop and wrote a story about being one of my art students. Two boys worked with Gary at SkoogWorks on a Pittsford Landmark project (the Flour Mill). They had to download pictures to illustrate their writing, however two had to be drawn (art).  Then the groups were put together, combining their story subject or perspective as one big illustrated story.  For Math and Science?  Hmmm...research what horses eat, how much grain does Mrs. Skoog need daily for 7 horses.  Then the manure discussion came up.  How much do they produce each day?  What does it weigh?  How many pounds are you lifting in the wheelbarrow? The kids wanted to know how the horses can create more waste weight than they take in.  Could it be the water they drink? Winnie likes to run.  Farmer McCracken gave Mrs. Skoog a plot of land to create a pasture.  Design it.  How far apart should the posts be?  How many are needed?  It went on and on.  Pretty creative, don't you think?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I suppose you were very interested in reading the children's stories, and may be surprised too.
I suppose the children have enjoyed this day too.